Lagi Isu Berkaitan BLok L dan Blok M...

Petikan dari Daily Express Published on: Tuesday, May 11, 2010 Sebuah akbar terbitan di Sabah
INDEPENDENT NATIONAL NEWSPAPER OF EAST MALAYSIA
Established since 1963 persoalkan banyak isu berkaitan dengan perkara ini. Yong Teck Lee mempersoalkan Che Det salah menasihati Petronas?. Berita ini di siarkan di http://www.bruneinews.net/

Yong: was Dr M wrong as Petronas advisor?
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) has asked the reason for the Sabah Cabinet to be briefed twice on the agreement between Malaysia and Brunei, if Block L and M did not belong to Malaysia in the first place.Its President Datuk Yong Teck Lee also asked if the areas in Blocks L and M were Brunei's sovereign rights in the first place, then "why did Malaysia award the blocks to Murphy Oil in 2003?"He said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman has been reported as saying that the State Cabinet was briefed twice on the matter.

"If Blocks L and M have nothing to do with Sabah, then there is no need to take up the precious time of the Cabinet. The fact that there were two briefings suggests there was a need for follow up, updating and issues that require the Cabinet's attention."If not, then why would a Cabinet that sees no need to renegotiate the 5 per cent royalty petroleum agreement with the Federal Government, busy itself with maritime territories that are outside Sabah? What was the briefing about and did the Cabinet give its consent?," he asked.

"Putatan MP Datuk Dr Marcus Mojigoh boasted on his expertise on the exclusive economic zone. Based on his simplistic view, Malaysia would have lost Sipadan and Ligitan islands to Indonesia and Layang Layang Island to Vietnam or China or the Philippines. "But in contrast, his own Upko boss Tan Sri Bernard Dompok saw it fit to leave this to the Prime Minister to explain. Earlier, Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman brushed aside anger over the loss of three million acres of maritime territory in oil Blocks L and M," he said in a statement here Monday.

Yong said the facts remained that on Jan. 16 2003, Murphy Oil Corporation of the United States announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Murphy Sabah Oil Co. Ltd, was awarded two new Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) covering Blocks L and M, offshore Malaysia. Murphy Oil has 60 per cent interest in Block L and 70 per cent in Block M. Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd holds the remaining 40 per cent and 30 per cent respectively.He said each block covered 1.5 million acres. The total is, therefore, three million acres and the awarding authority was Petroleum Nasional Berhad (Petronas).Petronas has "entire ownership in, and exclusive rights, powers, liberties and privileges of exploring, exploiting, winning and obtaining petroleum whether onshore or inshore of Malaysia" under the Petroleum Development Act 1974.

"This is the Petronas, vested with the powers and authority of Parliament by virtue of the Petroleum Development Act 1974 and the Prime Minister, over offshore petroleum development in Malaysia that awarded the three million acres in Blocks L and M to Murphy Sabah Oil Co. Ltd. on or before 16 Jan. 2003," he said.

Petronas and the Prime Minister at the time (Tun Dr Mahathir) have seen it fit, proper and legal to award the said maritime territory to Murphy Oil, an American company, he said.Yong said all these point to the fact that, in the legal opinion of Petronas and the Federal Government at the time, Malaysia has sovereign rights over the maritime territory contained in Blocks L and M. The Deputy Prime Minister at the time was Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

"Murphy Oil Corporation has two other subsidiaries in Malaysia, namely - Murphy Sarawak Oil Co. Ltd. and Murphy Peninsular Malaysia Oil Co. Ltd. for the respective geographical regions. "The subsidiary company used to operate Blocks L and M is the one for Sabah, not the one for Sarawak or Peninsular Malaysia. We have to assume that the Americans and Petronas know where Sabah is," he said.Yong contended that Dr Mahathir's successor, Tun Abdullah Badawi, was covering himself by saying that his Exchange of Letters with the Sultan of Brunei was approved by his Federal Cabinet in February 2009.

"Did our Sabahan Ministers in the Federal Cabinet agree to the surrender of Blocks L and M to Brunei ?," he asked (Tan Sri Dompok was the Minister in charge of Petronas then).Yong said furthermore Murphy Oil's announcement to the New York Stock Exchange last month that their PSC to Blocks L and M have been terminated because "following the Exchange of Letters between Malaysia and the Sultanate of Brunei on March 16, 2009, the offshore areas designated as Blocks L and M are no longer a part of Malaysia" meant that before the exchange of letters, the areas were still a part of Malaysia. Abdullah was lambasted by Dr Mahathir in his blog who must have been irked by the loss of national territory and Petronas profits.Yong said Mahathir's anger was understandable because it was during his tenure as premier that Blocks L and M were awarded to Murphy Oil Corporation. 

"He said that these blocks are Malaysian territory," said Yong.In this respect, Yong said the Government needs to answer several issues."Where was the pressing need for Malaysia to surrender any territory to any country just three weeks before a change of Prime Minister?Negotiations over territorial disputes in the South China Sea are alive and active," he said. "Why did our government and Petronas keep this secret? The surrender of Blocks L and M was kept a national secret until the Murphy Oil announcement on April 22, 2010 in the New York. 

"Why was there a need for an Exchange of Letters between Abdullah and the Sultan Brunei if Blocks L and M already belonged to Brunei?," he asked, adding that in March 2009, Abdullah chose to announce only that Brunei has dropped the Limbang claim but remained silent on the loss of Blocks L and M. 

Yong said Kelantan and Terengganu were fiercely fighting for their rights to oil revenues. "Terengganu, a BN-Umno State still has unfinished litigation with Petronas and the Federal Government over oil royalties."Why should Sabah, a BN fixed deposit state, choose instead to defend the blunder of losing territory and oil revenues? Tengku Razaleigh, a Kelantanese BN MP heads the Parliamentary caucus on oil royalties."Why are our Sabahan BN MPs, like Marcus, unwilling join the fight for Sabah?," he said. 

"It is the duty of Malaysia to protect the sovereignty of these areas over which Sabah has an interest.
For instance, would Sabah not have a say if the Malaysian government were to cede Labuan FT to a foreign country?," he asked."International conventions, be it on continental shelf, Law of the Sea and the 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone limit affecting Sabah do not nullify the historical fact that Malaysia acquired these maritime territories with the entry of Sabah into Malaysia," he said. 

"Sabah has lost enough. If the BN State Government fights for Sabah's rights and interests, then the people will support the Government."But if the government fails, the people will speak through the ballot boxes."


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